Elon Musk's xAI said Grok's behavior was due to an update that caused it to prioritize engagement, even if posts contained "controversial opinions."

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok praised Adolf Hitler, referred to itself as “MechaHitler,” and posted vile antisemitic hate, such as calling for people with “certain surnames” to be rounded up, stripped of their rights and eliminated.

The unusual behavior of Grok 4, the AI model that Musk's company xAI released late Wednesday, has surprised some experts.

Linda Yaccarino stepped down as X's CEO a day after the platform's AI chatbot, Grok, went haywire and began praising Adolf Hitler's actions in responses to users.

The internet certainly did notice a difference on Tuesday, when Grok posted antisemitic comments, associated Jewish-sounding surnames with “anti-white hate” and wrote that Adolf Hitler would “spot the pattern” and “handle it decisively,

As Grok fired off replies on X praising Hitler, the chatbot's parent company also recently got permission to emit 97 tons of carbon monoxide per year to keep it running.

On Tuesday July 8, X (née Twitter) was forced to switch off the social media platform’s in-built AI, Grok, after it declared itself to be a robot version of Hitler, spewing antisemitic hate and racist conspiracy theories. This followed X owner Elon Musk’s declaration over the weekend that he was insisting Grok be less “politically correct.”

MechaHitler is a fictional cyborg version of Adolf Hitler from the 1992 game Wolfenstein 3D, which gained fame in 90s satire and early internet memes.